Cinder Blocks Quilt


Here is a baby quilt I made a few months back that I am finally getting around to posting. This is also my Blogger's Quilt Festival entry! 


I made this quilt for no one in particular. The inspiration for it came last year while we were staying in Arizona. I consider myself completely lucky that I even found the inspiration since I discovered it in a place that I normally don't go: the gym. So the apartments we were living in had a really nice clubhouse, and usually my girls and I would make our way over there once or twice a week for the delicious and free fresh baked cookies they always had. So one day while on a cookie run, we used a different entrance to the clubhouse than we normally did and it took us right past the workout room, aka the gym. Normally I never would have even looked in there since I'm not really a gym kind of girl (I'm completely content with a workout video in the comfort of my own living room). Anyway, as we walked past the room I glanced through the open door and as luck would have it, on the one wall I could see there was a giant mirror reflecting this fabulous piece of wall art:


I have no idea who the artist is...but I think this piece is brilliant! When I saw it I knew immediately that it would somehow become a quilt! So later on I went back to the gym and covertly snapped a picture. 


It took me a while to actually sit down and come up with a design for the quilt and then a while longer to decide what fabrics to use. Once I figured out exactly what I wanted to do, I mocked it up in Inkscape. I printed just the corner of one shape and cut it out to use as a template. Next, I figured out the measurements of each shape, cut the appropriate sized rectangles out of the printed fabric and used my template and a rotary cutter to round the corners and cut out the middles. Then I appliqued them onto a single piece of gray fabric using Bonash (fusible powder). I have decided I really like Bonash for quilts like this...other methods I have tried are either more time consuming or they leave the quilt too stiff. One drawback of this method is the edges can fray a bit more, but for me that's not a deal-breaker. Anyway, to finish it up, I secured the shapes with a blanket stitch in matching thread. 


And...the quilting. I think I was in a hurry to get this quilted...yeah, I was in a hurry. My quilting machine was making a funny sound and I had scheduled it for maintenance, but I wanted to finish this quilt first. :) So the whole time I was quilting it I kept saying to my machine, "please don't die, please don't die!" And it didn't. Anyway, I had a really hard time trying to come up with a good way to quilt it (sound familiar?). In the end, I chose a ridiculously tedious design...pebbling. After I started it I realized that pebbling was totally the wrong choice for a speedy finish. But I still got it done in time and became more adept at pebbling. I couldn't decide what to do inside the shapes...so I decided to just do nothing. Now I'm thinking this quilt would have been perfect for some trapunto!


After I finished it, every time I looked at it I thought the shapes looked kinda like a bunch of cinder blocks stacked on each other...hence the name. 


Yay for quilting! Enjoy the rest of the quilts in the festival!!

Amy's Creative Side

42 comments

  1. very pretty, very modern design. And great use of the gym....for inspiration! LOL

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  2. Gorgeous!! I love it and especially the quilting you did on it! you have impeccable taste!

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  3. Love it, great colours, and love the quilting, it was worth it.

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  4. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!! Yeah pebbling may not be the quickest thing to quilt, but oh so effective!

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  5. What a terrific interpretation of your inspiration!! It's a great quilt!

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  6. This is fantastic! Love the story behind the inspiration. Your design is great.

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  7. Great quilt and I love that pebble quilting!

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  8. What a fun inspiration! The quilt is great and I love that you left the cinder blocks unquilted, I think it makes them pop!

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  9. Yay for quilting, indeed! What a fabulous design! Thanks so much for sharing the inspiration and the methods you used to get to the finished product. It is truly fabulous! And while the pebble quilting may have been tedious, the result is spectacular. :)

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  10. Love this quilt and everything about it! Thanks for sharing!

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  11. This is so cool! I love the quilting a lot.

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  12. Very cool quilt! I love the quilting!

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  13. This quilt is awesome. Love the graphic nature of it. Perfect quilting choice.

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  14. Gorgeous quilt!!! I love the design!

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  15. Love how you translated your inspiration into a finished quilt! Beautiful.

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  16. lovely! the quilting really accentuates the shape of the applique pieces.

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  17. great modern quilt! i love the colors and the composition -

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  18. I love your quilt, it is so modern and fun. The pebble quilting really adds a wonderful touch too.

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  19. Once again, Ms. Cynthia, you have done well for yourself and your creative pursuit;) It is interesting on what gets the creative juices flowing;) I know you have mentioned before that you don't want to go commercial, but the patterns you come up with you be a simple, low cost way to get your habit paid for;) Just sayin'. ;)

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  20. How FUN!! I love the inspiration photo for it too :) And your pebble quilting - wowsers that took forever! LOL!

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  21. This is beautiful and so unique.

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  22. The pebble quilting looks fabulous despite it not adding to a speedy finish. The design of this quilt really appeals to me and the colours are just wonderful. You did an amazing job!

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  23. Another gorgeous quilt!!! You have a great talent!

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  24. The story behind this is so fun! The curves on the rectangles give it a great unique look.

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  25. Great quilt...love the journey from inspiration to finish! This is going to be a great gift.

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  26. Love the design and the quilting! Congrats!

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  27. very pretty and modern - i love when something around us inspires a quilt! very cute!

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  28. Great story. I always like to know what inspires someone. I really love the quilt. The shapes, the colors and your great pebble quilting.

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  29. Super cute! I seriously LOVE how you find inspiration everywhere. Jealous! Love you!

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  30. beautiful - I really like the color choices and your photography is great as well. =)

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  31. Wow, this is great, and it's awesome how you came up with it! I had no idea one could do pebbling (being a non-quilter, had no idea there was such a thing :)), but it turned out great. I like your fabrics and colors. Great job!

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  32. Love your quilt and it is true to its inspiration! Very well done and exaclty my style :o)

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  33. This is so modern and beautiful, great work!

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  34. Aaaand... I'm nominating you for "Favorite Applique" quilt because I think this design is just wonderful!!!

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  35. Great job on this! I love seeing where you got your inspiration from too! Amazing job on the quilting too! I haven't tried pebbles yet, but I have heard that they are time consuming (to say the least!)

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  36. I came over from the Quilt Festival - great quilt! I've enjoyed looking back through your blog at some of the other beautiful quilts you've made.

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  37. WOW! This quilt has turned out a beauty! I love it and find your ideas very interesting. This is such an inspiration for me , thank you so much for sharing. Could you please let us know the size of the quilt so that I can imagine the size of the rectangles better? Greetings from Germany

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  38. I recognize this one! Love it! Looks great!

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